ACE Youth Forum

The COP23 Presidency is joining forces with YOUNGO (the official youth constituency to UN Climate Change), the Government of Canada, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Climate Change to organise the first ever Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) Youth Forum on 29 April 2018. The event in Bonn, Germany, will bring together more that 100 young climate activists from all over the world who are taking steps towards climate action and projects related to the concept of “ACE.”

Background

Following COP23, Parties requested UN Climate Change to organise an in-session workshop at the May 2018 intersessionals (Bonn Climate Change Conference, 30 April – 1o May) involving inputs from stakeholders, including youth, to help shape actions relating to Article 12 of the Paris Agreement and its implementation.

The role of young people in this process is critical and so the COP23 Presidency and YOUNGO, together with their partners, are convening the ACE Youth Forum 2018 in Bonn, Germany on 29 April 2018, just prior to the Bonn Climate Change Conference (the climate change negotiations of the 48th Meeting of Subsidiary Bodies) and the in-session ACE Workshop.

What is ACE?

World governments (called “Parties” under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) adopted the text of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. Its Article 6 calls on governments to educate, empower and engage all stakeholders and major groups on policies relating to climate change.

Since 2015, the elements of Article 6 – education, training, public access to information, public awareness, public participation and international cooperation on climate action – have been referred to jointly as “ACE”, which stands for Action for Climate Empowerment.

ACE comprises a multitude of activities on education, training and public awareness on climate change aimed at increasing momentum and effectiveness, such as activities to develop and implement educational and public awareness programmes, train scientific, technical and managerial personnel, foster access to information, and promote public participation in addressing climate change and its effects.

Supporting the involvement of youth, especially those from the Global South, is crucial in international decision making and implementation processes of ACE.